"This is Amerika!"

[RhythmAngel]

New here, but just had to respond to this. I see muttonheads like this around my area from time to time and they always sicken me. They are usually young guys about 20ish, but it never fails that they usually end up proving themselves to be the stupidest creatures on the planet. Honestly, what went so wrong in their lives that made them want to embrace such hatred? It just blows my mind that some people can be so moronic.

*EDIT-No need to quote the entire post.

[ladodger34]

Yes, the First Amendment still applies here. He has a right to free speech and to believe what he wishes. As does everyone else in any civilized nation, as long as it doesn't interfer with the rights of others.

I know other people have posted what I am posting, but I figured it was important enough to repeat.

The only entity in the US that has to guarantee first amendment rights is the government. Private property owners do not have to abide by it. If I decide that I don't like people who wear "Vote for Pedro" shirts to shop in my store, so be it. I might lose a significant amount of bidness doing so, but it is well within my rights.

Now if a government official tells me that I can't wear a "Vote for Pedro" shirt or another shirt with a swastika, then there is going to be trouble.

[One-Fang]

I will not serve hate.

The very next breath...

Nazis should be shot in the back of the head and thrown into a ditch, and I wouldn't shed a tear.

Let's reflect:

I will not serve hate.

Darling, you just did.

[Araby]

This is turning into a socio-political/religious debate.

It seems to me that the SC was looking for negative attention. Who cares about the thought processes of a moron? Don't let it get to you, that idiot probably needs someone to wipe his bum. Maybe his helper has been using sandpaper lately, that might explain his irritability.

That being said, (and I don't think I really said anything, other than beer babbles) I might be lynched for this, but I've always thought that the Swastika was a really cool geometrical shape. Barring all its evil associations, of course. If Einstien had come up with it before Hitler....

I don't wish to offend anyone and I probably shouldn't have posted this. Mr. Beer #6 told me I should. How could I argue?

[Gopher]

Come on people, I'm aware of the right to free speech and all that, but taking a dislike to someone in a Swastika T-Shirt and professing his desire to see the destruction of Israel is hardly making a generalization about the German population as a whole is it?

That guy hardly seemed the type you would take round to your Grandmother's for tea and cucumber sandwiches?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Symbols are just meaningless pictures...until they are given meaning by the people using it.

You're right, the swastika was used in several cultures, if I'm not mistaken. In some, it had good connectations.

However, it's use by the Nazis and other racist groups has turned it into something terrible and awful and brutally offensive. To deny that is pretend to be unbelievably clueless.

Do you think that guy was out trying to enlighten those he encountered on the older meaning of that symbol, or do you think he was trying to offend?

I'll give you hint: It's almost always the easy answer (Achems Razor). I seriously doubt the guy was history professor.

The sad part is, I'm sure he totally got off on the fact he got to curse at someone and then got thrown out of the store. Seriously, I bet it made his day.

[Rapscallion]

This thread veered badly off course. The object of the board is to vent about sucky customers. We're not here for in-depth socialogical debates and the like.

Rapscallion

[Ree]

This is customerssuck!
This is a forum to discuss the suckiness of customers.

This is not a forum for discussing whether the swastika is actually a Nazi symbol when worn on the T-shirt of some guy who started spouting anti-Israeli sentiments after being asked to cover it up.

It is not a forum for debating free speech and generalizations of hatred.

It is most definitely not a forum for making statements like:

Nazis should be shot in the back of the head and thrown into a ditch, and I wouldn't shed a tear.

This is not in the Off Topic area, but this is turning into an off topic debate.

Since this whole thread has not really revolved around a customer issue, and as far as I can see, will continue to result in nothing but division and anger on both sides, it needs to be closed.

I could move it to Off Topic for further debate, but since CS no longer has a forum for debating controversial issues, it has no place here.